1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seasoning apparatus, and more particularly to a seasoning apparatus which seasons a stack of cut sheets of paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a printing system which prints on general printing paper using water-based ink, deformation including expansion and contraction occurs in the sheet of paper due to change in the amount of water in the sheet of paper, and registration errors between the front and back surfaces of the sheet of paper occur in the case of double-side printing, and so on. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to season the sheet of paper immediately after printing so as to adapt the sheet of paper to the ambient temperature and humidity.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-063019 discloses technology in which a sheet of paper that has been printed on one surface is output temporarily to an external paper output tray and dried by blowing air on the paper output tray, whereupon printing of the back surface is carried out. However, the paper needs to be processed one sheet at a time, and hence entails a drawback in that processing requires a large amount of time if a large number of prints are made at the same time.
When printing of many sheets of paper is carried out at the same time, it might be considered efficient if, firstly, printing is performed on one surface of each of the paper sheets, the paper sheets which have completed printing on the one surface are collected and seasoned together, and then printing is performed on the back surface of each of the paper sheets. However, when the paper sheets are stacked together, the surface area contacting with the air decreases, and hence there is a problem in that seasoning requires time.
A possible method for efficiently seasoning paper sheets which have been stacked together is a method where ambient air is blown from a side of the paper sheets in a stacked state (paper stack) so as to pass air between the paper sheets, thereby promoting seasoning. In this case, in order to prevent the paper sheets from being blown away, it is necessary to surround the periphery of the paper stack with side plates. Furthermore, in order to perform efficient seasoning, it is necessary to enclose the periphery of the paper stack to a certain extent so as to control the flow of air.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-297813 relates to technology for separating a stack of paper sheets, and describes technology in which the periphery of a paper stack is enclosed by side plates and air is blown from the sides of the paper stack.
With a composition where the periphery of a paper stack is surrounded with side plates, if the side plates are disposed at a distance from the side faces of the paper stack, then there are problems in that the paper sheets become disordered after the end of seasoning and the recovery process requires work. If, on the other hand, the side plates are disposed in close contact with each side face of the paper stack, then there is a problem in that the edges of the paper sheets rub against the side plates during seasoning, creases occur in the paper sheets, and so on. Hence, it is desirable that each side plate is disposed in a position at a prescribed distance (e.g., approximately 3 mm) from each side face of the paper stack.
However, there are many different sizes of paper and if the side plates are to be set so as to match each size of paper, then a problem arises in that a seasoning apparatus must be prepared separately for each size of paper.
On the other hand, although it is possible to position the side plates in accordance with the paper of maximum size and to employ a size adjustment mechanism as used in a generic copying machine, or the like, such size adjusting mechanisms are not able to airtightly enclose the periphery of the paper stack and therefore it is not possible to pass air efficiently between the paper sheets if the mechanism is used directly without modification, and hence there is a drawback in that desired seasoning performance cannot be displayed.